"The internet is an integral part of our lives. Although many people misuse it I will not tolerate state control over the internet. I will not accept censorship or blocking of any site as the internet is our only access to the world around us"

Reem, a Jordanian citizen

General Overview

Jordan is one of the Arab countries that is witnessing a renaissance on the information and technology front. Consequently , internet use has gained importance. The main objective of the government is to make Jordan attractive for investors especially in the field of information technology. To achieve this objective, Jordan has taken a number of measures such as the establishment of the Communication Organizing Authority (COA) in 1995. Subsequently, Communication Law No. 8 was passed in 2002 a view to improve the regulatory framework.

In 2004, Jordan had a population of 5,7 million. The country is relatively with an average annual income of 1,964 US dollars per capita. There are some 618,000 landlines, a rate of 10.8 per 100 citizens. In addition, there are 600,000 mobile phones lines. (1)

Jordan 's government presented its vision of information and communications in a General Policy Document that was ratified by the cabinet on 4 September 2003. In this document the government pledged to implement a number of initiatives towards digital participation, and stated that it is determined to remove every obstacle to the implementation of its policy. (2)

Internet and Telecommunications Sector

Internet services were first available in Jordan from the mid 1990s. During the last 10 years the market has witnessed a great development. In 1997, the Public Institution for Wireless Communications was turned into a state owned company by was operating on commercial basis, under the name of the “Jordan Communication company” (3). Until 2004, it was the only company offering national and local phone services. (4). In 2004, the government sold its shares to France Telecom which became the dominant player in the communication sector in Jordan , holding 51% of the capital (5).

Mobile phones services were first provided by Fast Link. They were the only company in the market from 1995 until Mobilecom Company started operating in 2000. Since 2000 they have remained the only companies in the market and COA has not provided any news about the possibility of a third company (6).

These steps have contributed to an increase in the number of Internet users from 127,000 in 2000 to 630,000 in 2004 a total of 11.7 users per 100 citizens, this is a high rate in comparison to other Arab countries (7).

Currently many companies provide internet connection services. The Jordanian market attracts Arab and international companies to provide these services and this open competition has meant that prices have decreased. For example, when ADSL services entered Jordan 's market in 2001, there were no more than 409 users. By 2004 this number had reached 10,000 after the company TE.Data, the biggest provider in Egypt , started to provide “free net” services in Jordan (8)(9).

This rapid development in the communications field has led Jordan to stand among the best Arab countries in this field.

Communication and Internet Law

Although there is no comprehensive legislation on the Internet use in Jordan , the State is trying to establish innovative regulations to organize the use of the Internet. The Jordanian Communication law focuses on the organization of communications according to the government's policy and on the setting the minimum standards of quality that the service provider must comply with (10).

Censorship and Website Blocking

Internet users enjoy a state of freedom that those in most of the other Arab countries do not know though the situation is far from perfect. The government officially claims that there is no censorship or banning of sites' content or on the diverse electronic communications of news, e-mails or any form of internet use (11).

King Abdullah II declared on many occasions, including the speech he delivered before the American organizations in Washington on 2005 (12), his full compliance with freedom of press and freedom of expression. The King himself launched the project of the National Agenda in February 2005. This is a 10 year project in which many recommendations were formulated in response to journalists' demands in Jordan . However the gap between what was recommended and reality very quickly when the government and Members of Parliament refused to include these recommendations in the new Press law of 2006 (13).

In spite of the relative freedom that internet users enjoy in Jordan , human rights organizations have demanded more than once that the Jordanian government ensures full respect of freedom of expression. Instead, the police, the intelligence services and the General Prosecutor continue to repress freedom of expression (14).

Some situations showed the freedom that internet users enjoy, such as when the authorities banned the London based "Arab Jerusalem" newspaper, which had published articles attacking Jordan 's policies (15). But still, it remained possible for people in Jordan to read this newspaper on its website which was not blocked (16).

On the other hand in 2001, the authorities blocked the "Arab Times" website inside Jordan as it had published a number of articles written by the famous member of the opposition Togan Alfesl in which she accused the Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb of corruption (17). She was referred to State Security Court for having published these articles (18). .

Freedom on the internet witnessed a relapse after September 2001, when the government took measures to restrict this freedom. The authorities demanded that the service providers prevent access to some independent news websites. The Government also took legal measures to curtail freedom of expression in the mass media including the internet (19). Reporters Without Borders' report spotted a number of websites which were blocked including arabmail.net and ammannet.net a Jordanian radio broadcasting on the internet. All internet service providers in Jordan have to pass through the governmental network in order to connect to the internet which means they may be exposed to censorship by governmental bodies at any time (20).

However, there are no laws or resolutions demanding the service providers inside Jordan impose any kind of censorship on websites including pornographic ones (21). One of the internet cafés owners said that he could not prevent visitor from browsing the banned websites whether pornographic or extremist as he considered it a personal freedom he has no right to undermine and particularly because young people like to visit these sites. The owner believes that for the youth, ‘Forbidden fruit is sweet'.

Despite the absence of a clear definition of who is responsible to “watch” the internet, it is obvious that security services are watching the Internet. This can be shown by the case of a young Syrian man arrested and detained after he sent message to the Jordan Information Center in which he threatened to explode atheist places in Jordan (22). This case seems to draw a decisive line between the right of a citizen to get information and the right of the State to guarantee its citizens' security.

In the Syrian citizen's case was preceded by another incident in which a Jordanian citizen had been was sentenced to two and half years in prison, having sent an e-mail to the General Intelligence Department in which he was threatening to blow up the Intelligence building (23).

The reduction of the freedom of expression in Jordan after September 2001 also affected the internet use. Many Jordanians are convinced that the security services read the comments written on web forums. In December 2001 the Supreme Council for Information was established with the aim of reforming the Jordanian media policies. This new authority also watches the internet and started to ask the access providers details about banned websites (24) .

In another case the authorities put pressure on the officials of Amin site which is an electronic news website which publishes many news articles that are not usually published in the traditional mass media (25)(26).

Ra'ed El Abed editor in chief of the websites confirmed that they had received phone calls from the manager of the governmental office for Printed and Press warning them not to tackle particular topics .

Press reports affirm that the authorities have blocked the "Qawem.Net " website as it called for resisting against Israel and boycotting American goods (27)(28).

In August 2006 the Muslim Brotherhoods group's website http://www.ikhwan-jor.org was blocked. According to the group this blocking coincided with the banning of the Islamic Labor Front party, the political wing of the group in Jordan . In spite of knowing about this case in Jordan , some citizens claim that they do not feel this is a constriction of their liberty.

Internet Cafés

The approximately 500 Internet cafés in Jordan are one of the primary ways for the citizens' access to a computer, especially the youth and students who do not have laptops or cannot afford to pay for an Internet subscription. A study by Mohammed Al-Khadi ,a professor in the press department at Yarmouk University indicated that the 18- 22 age bracket constitutes the highest percentage of cafés visitors in Amman and Irbid, the biggest two cities in Jordan. Text based web chatting constitutes some 85% of internet use (29).

Legend says that Jordan has the world record of the highest number of Internet cafés in one street - Shafeik street in the city of Irbid because it is close to Yarmouk University . The University has more than 130 Internet cafés on its campus. Most cafés are provided with fire wall system in order to automatically hide some websites.

In December 2000 the first resolution to regulate the work in internet cafés was issued by the Communication Organizing Authority (COA). According to this resolution the government is responsible for issuing licenses. It also stipulates that internet cafés owners must be Jordanian men of good reputed, who have never been charged with immoral crimes or fraud. Internet cafés owners also have the obligation to register the names of the users, their ID number, and a monthly record of the websites browsed by the visitors.

The Jordanian government agreed to amend this resolution in order to encourage investment on this field. Therefore, permission was given to youth aged 13 and above to enter Internet cafés, previously the limit had been 16.

In compliance with rules, some cafés register names of visitor and the time they use the internet (30). However many citizens say that they do not notice any particular measures being implemented (31).

However the resolutions regulating the work in the Internet cafés provides the obligation for the owners to set up censorship programs, to prevent from access pornographic websites, websites which offend religion, websites promoting the use of drugs and cigarettes, gambling websites and websites that contain military information. The resolution also stipulates that computer sets are to be in an open space, not in booths. The security services have the possibility of visiting the cafés in order to ensure their compliance with the resolution.

The use of internet in public cafés generated many social problems inside the conservative Jordanian society which is still bound by tribal customs. The scholar Mohammad Al Rashidi claimed in his study (contrary to the finding of some Saudis) that the internet should not be restricted to men only as the internet is a refuge for men and women even inside a conservative society (32).

Men use the internet more than women though this situation has started to change with a rise in the number of girls who visit internet cafes though this is still not accepted by some in society (33). One example of resistance to such changes was in an e-mail of a citizen that claimed that 99,99% of internet use in internet cafés are for immoral purposes, either for on chatting or browsing pornographic sites. He concluded his message requesting authorities to close down all these places completely (34).
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1- Jordon ,basic data the International Federation for Communication IFC the regional office http://www.ituarabic.org/arab_country_reprt.asp?arab_country_code=1( 4/8/2006 )
2-Ministry of Communication and Information Technology the government general policy document
3-The historical development in communication sector COA,
4- Communication market in Jordan, COA,http:\\www.trc.gov.static-arabic\market(visit 23\7\2006)
5- French company dominates Jordan communication market, Middle east on line,http:\\www.middleeast-online .Jordon/com/?id=392224(visit 12/6/2006 )
6-C market in Jordan COA ,previously mentioned,
7- the CS important indications,COA,http://www.trc.gov.jo/static_Arabic/mindicators.shtm( 23/7/2006 )
8- c market in Jordon, CSOA , previously mentioned
9- TEdata Jordon http://www.tedata.net.jo/Arabic/Arabic/news_itm.aspID=11
10- basher Abu Leil, interview with Mona Negm, theQurtri Awatan newspaper previously mentioned
11-Jordan , the internet in the Middeast and North Africa , free expression and censorship on human rights hrw.org/advocacy/internet/mena/Jordan.htm,wath( 4/4/2006 :// ا http
12- Jordon ,detention escalation constrict freedom of speech, HRW statement ,ANHRI SITE http://www.hrinfo/mena/hrw/2006/pr0616.shtml
13- The previous source.
14- The previous source.
15- e-site address http://www.alquds.co.uk.
16-Jordan ,internet in the Middeast and north Africa free expression and censorship ,mentioned above
17- the site, http ://www.arabiatime.com.
18-Montaser Almarai , Jordan veiled site fight normalization , Islam on line http://www.islam-online.net/arabic/news/200240/25/erticle15.shtml( 3/6/2006 ).
19- Jordan ,internet under serveillance,RWBs http://www.rsf.org.article.php3?id_article=10737.(14/5/2006
20- The previous source.
21-
22- Bater Mohammad Ali ,surveillance of net in Jordan , the civilized dialogue site http://www.rezgar.com/debat/show.art.asp?aid=54754

23-
24- Silenced-Jordan ,privacy international http://www.privacy international.org/article.shml?smd%5b347%5d=x-347-103564( 15/1/2006
25- The e-mail address http://www.amin.org
26-Jordan ,the internet in Middeast north Africa free expression and censorship, previously mentioned.
27- http://www.qawem.net
28- montasr Mara'I , Jordan veil site fighting normalization, Islam online, previously mentioned.
29-Tatek Delwany , internet diamond of the Jordanians, Islam on line, previously mentioned.
30- Akthem ,51years Jordanian citizen to ANHRI during the research
31- Kanan Jordanian citizen message to ANHRI during the research
32- Tarek Delwany , internet diamond of the Jordanians, Islam on line, previously mentioned
33- the Jordanian society and computer alghaad newspaper ,previously mentioned
34- Mohammad bin Fadel Albhlal ,the biggest café net in the world is not for humans, Alryad newspaper,http://www.alriyad.com2006/08/23/article181086html( 2/9/2006 )